Martin Häßler
Since becoming a member of the Vienna State Opera ensemble in the 20/21 season Martin Häßler has appeared in roles including Dr Falke in Otto Schenk’s iconic production of Die Fledermaus, Schaunard in La Bohème, Ned Keene in Britten’s Peter Grimes and Masetto in Barrie Kosky’s new production of Don Giovanni. Furthermore he performed as Cesare Angelotti (Tosca), Moralès (Carmen), 1. Nazarener (Salome), Wagner in Frank Castorff’s production of Gounod’s Faust and Simon in Haydn’s Seasons with the Wiener Staatsballett. In April 2022 he gave his debut as Heerrufer in Richard Wagner’s Lohengrin at Oper Leipzig.
Role debuts in his forthcoming season at the Vienna State Opera include Fritz Kothner in Keith Warner’s new production of Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg conducted by Philippe Jordan, Donner in Das Rheingold under Franz Welser-Möst and Don Fernando in a revival of Otto Schenk’s production of Beethoven’s Fidelio with Axel Kober. Furthermore he will give Lied recitals with Julius Drake and Sholto Kynoch in Barcelona and Oxford and sing in Bach’s St Matthew Passion with Masato Suzuki in Tokyo.
Previous opera engagements included Guglielmo in Così fan tutte (Nevill Holt Opera, The Sage Gateshead), Monterone in Rigoletto and Adi in Marius Felix Lange’s Schneewittchen (Oper Leipzig), Ratzekahl in Schreker's Irrelohe, Don Iñigo in Ravel's L'Heure espagnole (Opéra de Lyon), ll Gran Sacerdote in Nabucco (Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Opéra de Vichy), Siegfried in Schumann’s Genoveva (Tonhalle Düsseldorf), Collatinus in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia (Kammeroper Schloss Rheinsberg, Theater Gera-Altenburg) and Henze’s Ein Landarzt (Barbican Centre, London).
He worked with conductors Simone Young, Giedre Šlekytė, Sian Edwards, Bertrand de Billy, Cornelius Meister, Adam Fischer, Daniele Rustioni, Marco Armiliato, Alejo Pérez, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Alexander Soddy, Ludwig Güttler, Christoph Gedschold, Jonathan Stockhammer, Howard Arman and Michele Gamba as well as directors Frank Castorf, David Bösch, Calixto Bieito, Jossi Wieler, Sergio Morabito and James Bonas.
As an avid recitalist Martin has sung at the Wigmore Hall, the Berlin Philharmonie, at Klavierfestival Ruhr with Graham Johnson, at LIFE Victoria Barcelona with Julius Drake, at Oxford Lieder with Sholto Kynoch and Bengt Forsberg, at LSO St. Luke's, at Der Lyrische Salon with Daniel Heide and at the Vienna Musikverein. In 2019 he performed Mahler’s Rückert Lieder with the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi.
Concert appearances include Bach's Passions and Christmas Oratorio (Frauenkirche Dresden), Haydn’s Jephtha and Judas Maccabaeus (L’Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi, Tonhalle Orchester Zürich), Haydn's The Creation and Seasons, Mozart's Requiem, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Brahms' Ein Deutsches Requiem as well as Mendelssohn's Elias and Paulus.
He graduated from the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Leipzig and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama's prestigious opera programme where he studied with Rudolf Piernay and Janice Chapman. He is now being mentored by Robert Dean.
Martin held a scholarship from the German National Academic Foundation and is currently working for mentoringArts at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Leipzig.